Rafsanjani: Differences weakening Islamic States

Chairman of Iran's Expediency Council Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in a meeting with Qatari Attorney General Ali bin Fetais Al-Marri warned the Muslim states that differences have weakened the Islamic countries.
"The Islamic communities are busy with ethnic, religious and internal differences which have weakened them in certain cases," Rafsanjani said during the meeting in Tehran on Monday.
He reminded that 60 Muslim states, with 1.7bln population, could become the top decision-maker in regional and international bodies.
Rafsanjani voiced regret that lack of unity among the Muslim rulers is the root cause of growing atrocities by the usurper Zionist regime against the Palestinians, and called on the Islamic states to pay more attention to the innocent Palestinian people and the cause.
In similar remarks earlier this month, Hashemi Rafsanjani called for collective efforts and unity among Muslims to foil enemies' divisive plots and defeat extremist and terrorist groups in the region.
Rafsanjani referred to a verse from the holy Quran which calls on the Muslims to refrain from division, warning that useless quarrels would only weaken the Muslims themselves.
He urged both Shiites and Sunnis to boost their unity instead of focusing on the divisive issues.
Also, late in October, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei stressed that strengthening unity among the Muslim states was the prioritized policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
"Islamic unity which is the basic slogan of the Islamic Republic means that the Islamic Ummah shouldn’t practice hostility towards each other, but should support each other in (dealing with) important global issues," Ayatollah Khamenei said in a meeting with Iranian Hajj officials in Tehran.
He described unity and brotherhood among Muslims as one of the pillars of Islam, and emphasized that the Islamic Republic of Iran would never compromise this issue.